Note: The menu shows the 36 African countries where Africare has worked, not the other African countries.

 

Mozambique (Map courtesy of The World Factbook)

Mozambique

REGION: Southern Africa
CAPITAL CITY: Maputo
POPULATION: 19,424,000
LAND AREA: The size of Texas and Louisiana combined

In 1975, Mozambique emerged from a long independence struggle. Before it could rebuild, the young nation became a target of a regional destabilization war, instigated by pro-apartheid forces in neighboring South Africa. By the war's end in 1992, up to a million Mozambicans had died, the economy as well as much of the infrastructure had been ruined ― and even today, Mozambique bears the legacies of landmine amputees as well as unknown numbers of still-buried, still-active mines. Throughout the 1990s, the country carried out a wide range of basic development activities as well as macroeconomic reforms, which have led to dramatic improvements. In 2000 and 2001, however, severe floods affected a quarter of the population; and in 2002, many of the central and southern areas were struck by drought. Poverty remains widespread. Subsistence agriculture employs the vast majority of the people. Tragically, too, Mozambique has high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates: up to 20 percent in some parts of the country.

 

Country Stats

Life expectancy: 42.8 years (USA: 77.9)

Under-5 child mortality: 145/1,000 live births (USA: 7/1,000)

HIV prevalence, ages 15-49: [12.5 - 20.0]% (USA: [0.4 - 1.0]%)

Physicians per 100,000 people: 3 (USA: 256)

People undernourished: 44% (USA: 0%)

People with access to safe drinking water: 43% (USA: 100%)

Adult literacy: 38.7% (USA: 99%)

Annual income, one way to look at it (GDP per capita, PPP US$): $1,242 (USA: $41,890)

Annual income, another way to look at it (GDP per capita): $335 (USA: $41,890)

People living on less than $1 a day: 36.2% (USA: 0%)

(HIV prevalence statistics, UNAIDS. All other statistics, 2007/2008 Human Development Report, UNDP)

 

(Updated, Dec. 18, 2007)